104 Points, Two Kick-Return TDs, One Big Comeback: UTSA Outlasts Colorado State 59-45
If you left the Alamodome for a snack in the first two minutes on Saturday, you missed two Colorado State touchdowns. If you stayed, you saw one of the wildest games UTSA has ever played. The Roadrunners dug out of a 14-0 hole and beat the Rams 59-45 to improve to 3-1, their best four-game start since 2021 [1].
From 14-0 down to 35-14 up
Mel Brown returned the opening kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown. Then K’saan Farrar hit Terrence Smith Jr. for a 74-yard score on Colorado State’s first offensive snap [1][2]. UTSA answered with five straight touchdown drives and led 35-14 with 6:48 left in the second quarter [2].
Owen McCown was sharp all afternoon, going 20-of-30 for 303 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions [1][2]. The run game was just as good. UTSA ran for 239 yards and four scores. Will Henderson III had 89 yards and a touchdown, Brandon High Jr. had 76 and a touchdown, and A’Marion Peterson had 60 yards and two touchdowns on only six carries [1].
Mekhi Anderson’s big day
Colorado State kept coming back, so UTSA needed some big plays. Mekhi Anderson took a third-quarter kickoff 100 yards to make it 42-28. He’s the first Roadrunner other than Chris Carpenter to return a kickoff for a touchdown, and he added a 14-yard touchdown catch early in the fourth [1]. It was also the first UTSA game where both teams scored on kickoff returns [1].
Closing it out
The Rams got within seven twice in the fourth quarter, and UTSA answered both times [2]. Michael Petro hit a career-long 46-yard field goal to make it 52-42. After Colorado State’s onside kick, David Amador II recovered at the CSU 47, and on the very next play Peterson broke off a 47-yard touchdown run [1]. Joel Rogers then intercepted a pass with 1:31 left to seal it [2].
By the numbers
- 59 points, the second-most in program history and two shy of the 61 UTSA scored against Rice last year [1]
- 104 combined points, the most in any UTSA game [1]
- 542 total yards for UTSA, with zero turnovers [1][2]
- 10 tackles for Darion White, his first double-digit game [1]
The defense gave up 500 yards [2], and that has to get better before league play. Still, winning a shootout like this by 14 counts for something.
Around the league
- UAB 24, Navy 20 (Friday): Bam McReynolds scored on a 48-yard run right after a fourth-quarter takeaway, giving UAB its first win ever over Navy [3].
- UFL: The league is growing to 10 teams. Rhode Island and Colorado join in 2027, and Utah and Oklahoma join in 2028 [4]. San Antonio isn’t one of the new markets.
Up next
UTSA opens American Conference play at Rice on Saturday, Oct. 3, at 6 p.m. on ESPN+ and AM 760 The Ticket [1]. That’s the same Rice team UTSA hung its 61-point school record on last season.
Birds up!